Media authoring and presentation

ABSTRACT

A system and method for facilitating non-linear viewing of media is provided. The system facilitates non-linear viewing of media by providing a scene selector that scans a digitized media and selects a scene in the digitized media and a metadata generator that produces metadata associated with the scenes and relates the metadata to the selected scene. With the scenes annotated with metadata, a playlist generator can generate a playlist of related scenes based on user inputs like queries and a playlist updater can adapt the playlist based on user reaction to the displayed scenes. The scenes can be displayed on a variety of devices exhibiting various levels of intelligence. The displays can be distributed as can the system.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/055,538, entitled “MEDIA AUTHORING AND PRESENTATION,” filed Jan. 23,2002. This application is also related to co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/009,142 entitled, “MEDIA AUTHORING ANDPRESENTATION” filed on Dec. 10, 2004. The entireties of the above-notedapplications are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to viewing annotated digitalmedia and more particularly to non-linear viewing of related scenes thatare annotated with metadata.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Conventional home video viewing systems have been underutilized due toproblems including, but not limited to, the difficulty of digitizingvideo and/or still images, complicated user interfaces and timeconsuming editing. For example, if a home videographer takes a two hourvideo, upon subsequent review there may only be ten minutes ofinteresting video (that are distributed between four shorter clips) thatthe person wants to watch or to have available to watch later. However,selecting the scenes in which the ten minutes appear, digitizing thatten minutes, editing the desired ten minutes, and arranging the shorterclips into an enjoyable, accessible presentation has conventionally beendifficult. With the appearance of more and more digital cameras, bothstill and video, a system that facilitates simpler, faster and morewidely available enjoyment of home video is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order toprovide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. Thissummary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is notintended to identify key or critical elements of the invention or todelineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to presentsome concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to themore detailed description that is presented later.

The present invention relates to a media authoring and presentationsystem that delivers media clip highlights (e.g., pictures, video andaudio clips) to selected local and remote, active and passive connecteddisplay devices. The short media clips play randomly and each media clipis a point of entry to full length versions of those media clips storedin a media data store. The media clips serve as points of entry tofacilitate non-linear viewing of additional related media from a mediadata store. The media is stored in a data store that facilitatesaccommodating multiple media types. The media is annotated with metadatathat facilitates non-linear retrieval and viewing of the media. Thus,the system can continuously analyze the media to facilitate intelligentsearch and retrieval of related content from the data store.

Digitizing, storing and retrieving related scenes is facilitated by auser interface that simplifies selecting scenes, navigating within amedia store of scenes and creating a playlist of scenes. Additionally,an application programming interface is provided that simplifiesprogrammatic control of and access to the unannotated media and/ormetadata annotated media, which facilitates automating scene selection,scene organization and scene retrieval. Information concerning theannotated scenes can be transmitted between two or more computercomponents in a system and thus data packets adapted to transmit suchdata are provided. Such data packets can be related to a data structurethat stores the media and the annotating metadata associated with themedia.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for annotating media thatfacilitates non-linear viewing of media, in accordance with an aspect ofthe present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method for annotating media thatfacilitates non-linear viewing of media, in accordance with an aspect ofthe present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system for generating a playlist ofannotated media that facilitates non-linear viewing of media, inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a system that facilitates non-linearviewing of media and receiving user feedback to selected media, inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method for annotating media thatfacilitates non-linear viewing of media, in accordance with an aspect ofthe present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for non-linear viewing ofmedia and receiving user feedback to select media, in accordance with anaspect of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a method for processing userfeedback that facilitates non-linear viewing of media, in accordancewith an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a system for annotating media andstoring such annotated media, in accordance with an aspect of thepresent invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a system for viewing annotatedmedia and receiving feedback concerning such annotated media, inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a system for authoring andpresenting media, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating a method for authoring andpresenting media, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates a data structure employed in accordance with anaspect of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a sample screen shot illustrating a user interface employedin accordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 14 illustrates a sample data packet employed in accordance with anaspect of the present invention.

FIG. 15 illustrates another sample data packet employed in accordancewith an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 16 illustrates an application programming interface employed inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example operating environment in which thepresent invention may function.

FIG. 18 illustrates an additional operating environment in which thepresent invention may function.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention is now described with reference to the drawings,where like reference numerals are used to refer to like elementsthroughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It may be evident, however, toone skilled in the art, that the present invention may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well-knownstructures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order tofacilitate description of the present invention.

As used in this application, the term “computer component” is intendedto refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination ofhardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example,a computer component may be, but is not limited to being, a processrunning on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a threadof execution, a program and a computer. By way of illustration, both anapplication running on a server and the server can be computercomponents. One or more computer components can reside within a processand/or thread of execution and a computer component can be localized onone computer and/or distributed between two or more computers.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system 100 for annotating media thatfacilitates non-linear viewing of media. The system 100 includes a sceneselector 110 that scans through a digitized media and selects a scene tobe annotated. Once a scene has been selected, then a metadata generator120 produces a metadata associated with the selected scene and relatesthat metadata to the selected scene. For example, a data structure canbe populated with one or more pieces of metadata, and a pointer to theselected scene can be stored in the data structure to establish therelationship between the selected scene and the metadata. Once themetadata has been generated, then an organizer 130 places the selectedscene, the metadata and relating data (e.g., pointers, references,indices) in a media store 140 in a manner that facilitates non-linearretrieval, and thus non-linear viewing of one or more scenes stored inthe media store 140.

The digitized media can be produced by a home videographer in variousforms including, but not limited to, video and still images, with and/orwithout audio. Such digitized media can be stored, for example, ondisks, memory sticks, other memories, compact disks (CDs), digitalversatile disks (DVDs) and the like.

When the media includes more than one scene, (e.g., a home video withten scenes), the scene selector 110 receives a digitized media andprocesses through the available scenes on the digitized media. The sceneselector 110 can select a scene to annotate in various ways. By way ofillustration and not limitation, the scene selector 110 may scan aninput digitized media and select a scene to annotate based onrecognizing a face in the scene. When face recognition is employed toselect a scene, the metadata generator 120 can then annotate the scenewith data associated with the recognized face. For example, a faceidentification number can be stored in the metadata, as can various dataevaluated by the face recognizer (e.g., distance between eyes, distancebetween other facial reference points). By way of further illustration,the scene selector 110 can select a scene based on recognizing an itemin the scene. For example, a videographer may be interested in viewingonly the scenes in which a white car appears. Thus, the scene selector110 scans the digitized media and select scenes in which a white carappears. Then, the metadata generator 120 annotates the scene withmetadata concerning the white car. In both the face recognition example,and the white car recognition example, standard metadata can begenerated. Such standard metadata can include, but is not limited to,the date of the scene, the time of the scene, the videographer, thelength of the scene, the longer media from which the scene wasretrieved, and so on. Similarly, the scene selector 110 can also selectscenes based on methods including, but not limited to, voicerecognition, color recognition, mood recognition and theme recognition.When a scene is selected through such methods, both method specificmetadata and standard metadata are generated and associated with thescene.

The methods by which a scene can be selected can be adapted over time torespond to inputs from a user concerning whether the identified scene isone in which the user is actually interested. For example, in the whitecar example, while the scene selector may identify a scene in which awhite SUV appears and a scene in which a white sedan appears, the usermay only be interested in scenes including the white SUV. Thus, the usercan provide an input to the scene selector 110 that adapts the itemmatching method and/or the scene selector 110 to make it more likelythat scenes including a white SUV will be selected and to make it lesslikely that scenes including a white sedan will be selected. The effectof such adaptations can be temporary or more permanent, based, forexample, on user configuration of the system 100 and/or any of itscomponents.

The metadata produced by the metadata generator 120 can include, but isnot limited to a date, a time, a length, a subject, a mood, a theme, acolor, a person name, a set of person names, an item name and a set ofitem names associated with the scene. One or more pieces of suchmetadata can be generated for each scene. For example, a first scene mayinclude both a face that is interesting to a user and a white car thatis interesting to a user while a second scene may only include the whitecar. Thus, the metadata generator 120 can produce more metadata for thefirst scene than for the second scene. Therefore, the data structureemployed to store the metadata associated with the scenes can vary inlength based on the amount and/or type of metadata associated with ascene. It is to be appreciated that the scene selector 110, the metadatagenerator 120 and the organizer 130 can be computer components, as thatterm is defined herein.

In view of the exemplary systems shown and described herein,methodologies, which can be implemented in accordance with the presentinvention will be better appreciated with reference to the flow diagramsof FIGS. 2, 5, 6, 7, and 11. While for purposes of simplicity ofexplanation, the illustrated methodologies are shown and described as aseries of blocks, it is to be understood and appreciated that thepresent invention is not limited by the order of the blocks, as someblocks may, in accordance with the present invention, occur in differentorders and/or concurrently with other blocks from that shown anddescribed herein. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be requiredto implement a methodology in accordance with the present invention.Furthermore, additional and/or alternative methodologies may employadditional blocks, not illustrated herein. In one example of the presentinvention, such methodologies can be implemented as computer executableinstructions that can be stored on computer readable media including,but not limited to, disks, memories and carrier waves.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method 200 for annotating mediathat facilitates non-linear viewing of media. The method 200 begins at210 by selecting a scene from a set of digitized media scenes (e.g., ahome video). The digitized media can include, but are not limited to,video images and still images. Such media can include one or morescenes, where a scene is a segment of a longer work, and where a scenemay include one or more persons, items and voices and may be identifiedas having a mood, a theme and/or a dominant color, for example.Furthermore, a scene can also be identified with respect to the amountof action in the scene (e.g., x items move at least y distance in zperiod of time, x, y and z being integers), and the amount of audioexcitement in the scene (e.g., m audio level changes with a maximumaudio level above a threshold of n decibels, m and n being integers).Given the rich set of parameters upon which a scene may be selected, themethod 200 may select scenes either manually and/or automatically. Whena scene is selected manually by a user, the user may interact with auser interface that facilitates identifying the beginning and endingpoint for a scene and which further facilitates producing metadataassociated with the scene (e.g., time, theme, faces, items). When ascene is automatically selected by the method 200, such scene selectionmay be performed by processes including, but not limited to, facerecognition, item recognition, voice recognition, theme recognition,color recognition, motion detection and the like. Depending on theprocess employed to select a scene, process specific metadata can begenerated (e.g., the identity of the voice that caused a scene to beselected) and the selected scene can be annotated with such processspecific metadata at 220. Furthermore, regardless of the processemployed to select a scene, generic metadata can be generated and thescene can be annotated with such generic metadata at 220. The genericmetadata can include, but is not limited to, a scene identifier, avideographer identifier, a length of a scene, a subject matter for ascene and the like.

At 230, the annotated scene and the metadata are stored in a manner thatfacilitates non-linear retrieval of the annotated scene. Non-linearretrieval relates to locating scenes not in the order in which theyappeared in a longer digitized media or the order in which they arestored, but in a manner, for example, where a first scene from the endof a longer first digitized media may be viewed first followed by asecond scene from the start of the first digitized media followed by athird scene from the middle of a second digitized media and a fourthscene from the middle of the first digitized media. Thus, rather thanstarting a first home video at its beginning and watching it linearly,(e.g., from start to finish) then starting a second home video andwatching it from start to finish, the present invention facilitatesretrieving scenes from various locations from various digitized media.Such non-linear viewing is facilitated by the storage method employed at230, which can include, but is not limited to, storing the selectedscene and the annotating metadata in at least one of a database and adatacube, where the scene and/or the annotating metadata includereferences to each other.

FIG. 3 illustrates a system 300 for generating a playlist of annotatedmedia that facilitates non-linear viewing of media. The system 300includes a media store 310 in which digitized media scenes andannotating data are stored. The media store 310 can be, for example, adatabase, a data cube, an array, a file, a list, a tree and so on. Thesystem 300 includes a scene retriever 320 that retrieves one or morescenes and one or more pieces of annotating metadata associated with theone or more scenes from the media store 310. By way of illustration, thescene retriever 320 can make an SQL (Structured Query Language) query toa database, where the SQL query requests scenes in which a certain voiceappears. By way of further illustration, the scene retriever 320 canalso examine elements and/or attributes stored in an XML file acting asthe media store 310. The SQL and XML examples are provided asillustrations and are not intended to limit the methods in which thescene retriever 320 can retrieve a scene and/or annotating metadata fromthe media store 310.

The system 300 includes a metadata analyzer 330 that analyzes annotatingmetadata. The result of the analysis performed by the metadata analyzer330 is an identification of one or more relationships involving theannotating metadata. Such relationships can occur between processspecific metadata (e.g., facial recognition metadata) and betweengeneric metadata (e.g., video date). By way of illustration, themetadata analyzer 330 may analyze metadata for substantially all scenesthat include facial recognition metadata and determine which scenesshare a common face. By way of further illustration, the metadataanalyzer 330 can analyze metadata for substantially all scenes shot by acommon videographer and determine which scenes share a common and/orrelated theme (e.g., outdoor scenes, action scenes). While tworelationships are identified, it is to be appreciated that the metadataanalyzer 330 can identify a variety of relationships.

The system 300 also includes a playlist generator 340 that evaluates therelationships identified by the metadata analyzer 330 and produces aplaylist of related scenes. For example, the playlist generator 340 mayproduce a playlist that includes a variety of scenes that substantiallyall include a common face, or that substantially all include at leastone face from an identified set of faces. Whether to include a scene ina playlist can be determined by analyzing, for example, a similarityvalue produced by the metadata analyzer 330 for a relationship that itidentified. By way of illustration, voice recognition may not produce adigital (e.g., yes/no) identification of whether a voice that appears ina first scene is the same voice that appears in a second scene. Thevoice recognition may instead produce a confidence value concerning thelikelihood that two voices belong to the same speaker. Thus, themetadata analyzer 330 can compute a similarity score between two scenesbased, at least in part, on the confidence value from the voicerecognition. Then, the playlist generator 340 can include scenes thatscore above a pre-determined, configurable threshold. In one example ofthe present invention, the playlist generator 340 can present options toa user concerning whether a scene should be included in a playlist.Then, based on the user accepting or rejecting the offered scene, theplaylist generator 340 can be adapted via machine learning techniques tomake it more or less likely that a similar scene will be offered forinclusion in the playlist. It is to be appreciated that the sceneretriever 320, the metadata analyzer 330 and the playlist generator 340can be computer components.

The system 300 can produce one or more playlists. For example, a firstuser may configure the scene retriever 320 to retrieve a first set ofscenes from the media store 310 (e.g., scenes including fast motion)while a second user may configure the scene retriever 320 to retrieve asecond set of scenes from the media store 310 (e.g., scenes in which adog appears). Given the two different sets of scenes retrieved by thescene retriever 320, the metadata analyzer 330 can perform differentanalyses and identify different relationships. Thus, the playlistgenerator 340 can produce different playlists based on the differentprocessing performed by the scene retriever 320 and the metadataanalyzer 330.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system 400 that facilitates non-linear viewing ofmedia and receiving user feedback concerning the viewed media. Thesystem 400 includes a viewer 450 for viewing a scene identified in aplaylist. The system 400 also includes a feedback receiver 460 thatreceives a feedback concerning the viewed scene. The viewer 450,feedback receiver 460, and playlist updater 470 can be computercomponents. Based on the feedback, the playlist updater 470 updates theplaylist. In addition to the viewer 450, the feedback receiver 460 andthe playlist updater 470, the system 400 includes a media store 410 thatis substantially similar to the media store 310 (FIG. 3), a sceneretriever 420 that is substantially similar to the scene retriever 320(FIG. 3), a metadata analyzer 430 that is substantially similar to themetadata analyzer 330 (FIG. 3) and a playlist generator 440 that issubstantially similar to the playlist generator 340 (FIG. 3).

The viewer 450 can be, for example, an active device that can not onlyidentify and/or receive the scene to be displayed from the playlist, butwhich can also manipulate the scene (e.g., crop scene, rotate scene,slow action, speed action). The viewer 450 can also be, for example, apassive device that simply displays the scene it receives without anyadditional processing. Furthermore, the viewer 450 can be an intelligentdevice that performs processing on the received scene (e.g., colorcorrection, digital data reconstruction, decompression, colorconversions, voice translation). The viewer 450 can also be, forexample, a non-intelligent device that simply displays the data itreceives. While four examples of viewers 450 are described, it is to beappreciated that such examples are merely illustrative and are notintended to limit the present invention.

Given the rich variety of viewers 450, a correspondingly rich set ofuser feedbacks can be provided to the feedback receiver 460. By way ofillustration, the feedback can include, but is not limited to, a touchinput, a typed input, a mouse input, a voice input and/or a facialexpression input concerning the viewed scene. For example, if the viewer450 is a touch screen, then a user can interact with a touch screenoriented user interface to indicate feedback concerning a current scenethat is being viewed. Such a feedback can include, but is not limitedto, a command to skip ahead in the playlist, a command to skip back inthe playlist, a command to generate a new playlist, a command to findscenes similar to the current scene and a command to play a longer scenerelated to the current scene. Thus, the non-linear viewing of scenes isfacilitated and the ease of use of home video viewing is improved.

By way of illustration, after the operation of the scene retriever 420,the metadata analyzer 430, and the playlist generator 440, the viewer450 may display scenes identified in a playlist. The user watching theviewer 450 may watch several related scenes and then decide that acertain scene should not be included in the list. Thus, the user mayinteract with the viewer 450 and/or the feedback receiver 460 andindicate that the scene should be removed from the playlist. Forexample, the user may click on a “remove scene” button on a graphicaluser interface. By way of further illustration, the user watching theviewer 450 may watch several related scenes in a playlist and may have astrong emotional (e.g., joy) reaction to three of the scenes. Anintelligent, active viewer 450 and/or feedback receiver 460 mayrecognize the emotional reaction via, for example, facial expressions,and determine that the playlist should be updated to include similarscenes and to remove scenes that do not generate a joyous reaction.Thus, the playlist updater 470 can receive inputs from the feedbackreceiver 460 to add scenes to the playlist, to remove scenes from theplaylist and so on. When an input to add a scene to the playlist isencountered, the playlist updater 470 can invoke processing in theplaylist generator 440, the metadata analyzer 430 and the sceneretriever 420, for example, to find, retrieve, analyze and includescenes in the playlist. By way of further illustration, a user watchinga scene on the viewer 450 may decide that a certain scene is interestingand that the user would like to see the entire available digitized mediafrom which the scene was retrieved. Such entire available digitizedmedia may not be the original digitized media. For example, the originaldigitized media may have been edited to remove certain content, to slowdown certain portions, to correct colors, to increase/decrease thevolume of audio in certain portions and/or to add effects, and so on.The metadata associated with a scene included in a playlist can includereferences to the longer digitized media from which the scene wasretrieved, which facilitates non-linear viewing of media. The metadataassociated with a scene can also include references to other similarscenes (e.g., same faces, same voices, same items) and/or other longerdigitized media from which such scenes were taken.

Thus, a user can watch a scene, see a face of a friend, and decide towatch other scenes in which that friend's face appears. Conventionally,such viewing would be difficult, if not impossible to perform, requiringthe user to linearly watch a series of tapes from start to finish, whichwould include an abundance of material not related to the face of thefriend in whom the user is interested. By employing the metadataannotated scenes provided by the present invention, a user can interactwith a scene (e.g., frame a face and click on the face) and be presentedwith a new playlist of scenes that include that face. As the userwatches the new playlist of scenes, the user can further interact with ascene and request a longer presentation associated with a scene. Whilewatching the longer presentation, the user may hear a long-forgotten butfamiliar voice and decide to watch scenes that include that voice. Thepresent invention facilitates retrieving such scenes and presenting anew playlist for user perusal. This sample session illustrates oneexample of the non-linear viewing of home video that is facilitated bythe present invention.

While a playlist can be updated directly by user inputs, the presentinvention is not so limited. In one example, the playlist updater 470can update the playlist based on factors including, but not limited to,a usage data, a feedback command and a time stamp. For example, if acertain scene has been viewed more than a pre-determined, configurablenumber of times, the playlist updater 470 can begin to “age out” thescene (e.g., progressively show the scene less frequently) so that thescene does not become stale to the user. Furthermore, the playlistupdater 470 can monitor the calendar and manipulate the playlist basedon the calendar and date metadata associated with a scene. By way ofillustration, as Thanksgiving approaches, the playlist updater 470 cancause more scenes that were shot around previous Thanksgiving days to beincluded, while removing scenes that were filmed in May, June and July.By way of further illustration, as the birthday of a loved oneapproaches, the playlist updater 470 can cause more scenes that includethe loved one to be included in the playlist, and can remove scenes thatare unrelated to the loved one.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart that illustrates a method 500 for annotatingmedia to facilitate non-linear viewing of media. The method 500includes, at 510, selecting a stored annotated scene, at 520, analyzingthe annotating metadata associated with the selected scene, and at 530,generating a playlist of scenes by evaluating relationships betweenmetadata associated with one or more scenes.

At 510, selecting a stored scene can be based, for example, on thepresence of a face in the scene, on the absence of a face in the scene,on the presence of an item in the scene, on the absence of an item inthe scene, on the presence of a voice in the scene, on the absence of avoice in the scene, on a mood of the scene, on the theme of the scene,and the like. While face, item, voice, theme and mood are provided asexamples at 520, it is to be appreciated that other selection criteriacan be employed by the present invention.

At 520, analyzing metadata associated with a scene involves computing asimilarity score for metadata that hold information concerning, forexample, a present face, a present item, a present voice, a mood and atheme. By way of illustration, a first scene may be annotated with firstmetadata items that identify a first set of faces appearing in the sceneand a second scene may be annotated with second metadata items thatidentify a second set of faces appearing in the second scene. At 530,the number of matching faces and the confidence value for such possiblematches can be computed into a scene similarity score that is thenemployed to determine whether to include a scene in a playlist.

At 530, a playlist is generated. In one example of the presentinvention, the playlist includes the scene and a reference to metadataassociated with the scene. In another example of the present invention,the playlist includes references to scenes and related metadata. In yetanother example of the present invention, the playlist includes both areference to a scene and a reference to metadata associated with thescene. Thus, it is to be appreciated that the playlist is not limited tocontaining only one type of data.

FIG. 6 illustrates a method 600 for non-linear viewing of media andreceiving user feedback to select media. At 610, a scene stored in aplaylist is displayed. In one example of the present invention, a sceneis a segment of a longer video, however the present invention is not solimited. For example, a scene can also be a still image or an entireshort video. At 620, the method receives a user feedback related to thedisplayed scene. For example, the user may click on a button to indicatethat the user wants to see a longer media associated with the displayedscene or the user may type a command indicating that the displayed sceneshould be removed from the playlist. While a mouse click and a keyboardcommand are described, the present invention is not so limited. The userfeedback received at 620 can take forms including, but not limited to, atouch input, a typed input, a mouse input, a voice input and a facialexpression input.

At 630, the method 600 can take an action based on the user feedback.For example, the method 600 can take actions including, but not limitedto, moving forward in the playlist, moving backward in the playlist,searching for related media, and displaying a media item related to thescene. In some cases, the user feedback received at 620 and responded toat 630 may require the playlist to be updated. For example, if the userfeedback indicates that the user would like to see more scenes thatinclude a voice heard in a displayed scene, then this warrants an updateto the playlist. Thus, at 640 a determination is made concerning whetherthe playlist is to be updated. If the determination at 640 is YES, thenat 650 the playlist is updated based, at least in part, on the userfeedback, otherwise processing returns to 610. Updating the playlist caninclude, by way of illustration, and not limitation, adding a scene tothe playlist, removing a scene from the playlist, reordering scenes in aplaylist and altering the frequency with which scenes in the playlistare displayed.

FIG. 7 illustrates one sample method 700 for processing user feedbackthat facilitates non-linear viewing of media. The method 700 includes,at 710, receiving a feedback related to a viewed media scene. As notedin connection with FIG. 6, the user feedback can be received from avariety of user input devices (e.g., touch screen, keyboard, mouse,expression determiner) in a variety of forms (e.g., click, menuselection, command, monitored expression) and can convey a variety ofdesired actions (e.g., skip ahead, skip back, add scene, remove scene).Thus, at 720a switch is made based on the command encoded in the userfeedback. Possible switch blocks are described at 730 through 770.

At 730, a determination is made concerning whether the user feedbackcommands skipping ahead in the playlist. If the determination is YES,then at 735, the next scene in the playlist is presented. At 740, adetermination is made concerning whether the user feedback commandsskipping back in the playlist. If the determination is YES, then at 745,the previous scene in the playlist is presented. At 750, a determinationis made concerning whether the feedback commands finding scenes relatedto the displayed scene. If the determination at 750 is YES, then at 755asearch for related scenes is undertaken. Such a search can be performedon parameters including, but not limited to, faces, items, voices,colors, moods, themes and the like. Such parameters can be retrieved,for example, from metadata associated with the viewed scene and can besearched for in metadata associated with other scenes.

At 760, a determination is made concerning whether the user feedbackcommands creating a new playlist. If the determination is YES, then at765, the existing playlist is cleared and a method to create a newplaylist is invoked. At 770, a determination is made concerning whetherthe user feedback commands navigating within a playlist. If thedetermination at 770 is YES, then at 775, a next desired scene isselected as the scene to display next from the playlist. At 780, adetermination is made concerning whether there is any more userfeedback. If the determination at 780 is YES, then processing returns to710, otherwise processing can conclude. While FIG. 7 illustrates fivepossible user feedbacks, it is to be appreciated that the presentinvention can employ a greater and/or lesser number of such feedbacks.

FIG. 8 illustrates a system 800 for annotating media and storing suchannotated media. The system 800 includes a media store 850 (e.g., mediadatabase) that stores a playlist, video segments, and annotatingmetadata associated with the video segments. A video segment 830 and anannotating metadata 840 can be related together by an annotating tool820. The annotating tool 820 receives digitized media as input. Forexample, the annotating tool 820 can accept a movie 810 as input. Theannotating tool 820 can then produce the annotating metadata 840 andassociate it with a video segment 830 parsed out of the movie 810.

In one example of the system 800, the annotating metadata 840 caninclude, but is not limited to, a date identifier that identifies thedate when the video was taken, a time identifier that identifies a timewhen the video was taken, a videographer identifier that identifies whotook the video, a face identifier that identifies one or more faces inthe video, an item identifier that identifies one or more items in thevideo, a voice identifier that identifies one or more voices in thevideo, a mood identifier that identifies one or more moods associatedwith the video, and a theme identifier that identifies one or morethemes associated with the video.

In one example of the present invention, the annotating metadata 840 isgenerated manually by a user. For example, the user can create theannotating metadata topic (e.g., mood, theme) and then assign a valuefor the metadata topic (e.g., happy, Veteran's day). In another exampleof the present invention, the annotating metadata 840 is generatedautomatically by a computer component. Such a computer componentgenerates the annotating metadata 840 based, at least in part, on facerecognition processing, item recognition processing, voice recognitionprocessing, mood recognition processing and theme recognitionprocessing.

In yet another example of the system, the annotating tool 820 is adaptedby a machine learning technique based, at least in part, on a user inputconcerning the annotating metadata 840 generated by the annotating tool820. For example, the annotating tool 820 can generate a value for ametadata topic (e.g., happy for mood), yet the user may determine thatthe mood is actually “ecstatic”. Thus, the user can reconfigure one ormore configurable parameters associated with the annotating tool 820 tomake it more likely that the annotating tool 820 would identify thescene and similar scenes as “ecstatic” rather than “happy”. Suchconfigurable parameters may be threshold values for a neural network, acount of scene emotion identifiers (e.g., number of smiles per minute,number of different smiling people), and the like. It is to beappreciated that the annotating tool 820 can be a computer component.

FIG. 9 illustrates a system 900 for viewing annotated media andreceiving feedback concerning such annotated media. The system 900includes a media store 920 that stores metadata annotated, displayableitems. For example, the media store 920 can store one or more videosegments 910 that have metadata associated with them. The media store920 can be, for example, a database, a data cube, a list, an array, atree and a file, among other things. In one example of the presentinvention, the media store 920 is a database that can be accessed bySQL. In another example of the present invention, the media store 920stores XML files.

The system 900 also includes a presenter 930 that presents displayableitems retrieved from the media store 920. The presenter 930 can be anactive and/or passive display that does or does not have localintelligence. In one example of the present invention, the presenter 930presents a first displayable item from the media store 920 and then thesystem 900 accepts feedback concerning which displayable item should bedisplayed next. The feedback can be, for example, a spoken word, akeystroke, a mouse click, and a facial expression. Such feedbackfacilitates viewing scenes in an order desired by the user rather thanlinearly from start to finish in a pre-determined order, providingadvantages over conventional systems.

To facilitate such non-linear viewing, the system 900 also includes aselector 940 that selects a second displayable item from the media store920 based, at least in part, on a relationship between a metadataassociated with the first displayed item and a metadata associated withthe second displayable item. Thus, the order in which video segments areviewed can depend on user reaction to displayed video segments. It is tobe appreciated that the presenter 930 and the selector 940 can becomputer components.

FIG. 10 illustrates a system 1000 for authoring and presenting media.The system 1000 includes an annotator 1020 that receives a set of mediaitems 1010 and annotates the media items 1010 with metadata. Suchmetadata annotated media items 1030 facilitate retrieving media itemsrelated by the metadata. For example, if a user desires to watch scenesthat include two or more faces that match the faces in a selected scene,then the metadata can be examined to determine matches between themetadata and to facilitate retrieving such related scenes.

The system 1000 also includes a playlist generator 1040 that generates aplaylist 1050 of annotated media items 1030. Such annotated media items1030 may be related, for example, by a first metadata retrieved inresponse to a first query. By way of illustration, a user may havegenerated an SQL query to an SQL database to retrieve scenes in which afavorite dog appears. Thus, the playlist 1050 can contain media itemsrelated by the metadata associated with scenes that include metadataindicating the presence of the favorite dog.

The system 1000 also includes a presenter 1060 for presenting annotatedmedia items 1030 identified in the playlist 1050. The presenter 1060 canbe, for example, an intelligent device (e.g., personal computer) or adumb device (e.g., standard television). While a user watches mediaitems identified in the playlist 1050, the user may decide to watchdifferent videos and/or to update the playlist 1050. In deciding towatch different videos, and/or to watch complete versions of displayedscenes, the user may generate a second query that retrieves a second setof metadata responsive to the second query. Thus, the system 1000includes a playlist updater 1080 that updates the playlist 1050 based,for example, on the second metadata retrieved in response to a secondquery. Since the second metadata was responsive to a query, and thequery was generated as a response to viewing a first scene that hadrelated first metadata, the second metadata can be related to the firstmetadata, which facilitates faster retrieval of related scenes bylimiting the amount of metadata that is searched. In one example of thepresent invention, the annotator 1020, playlist generator 1040, playlistupdater 1080 and presenter 1060 are computer components.

FIG. 11 illustrates a method 1100 for authoring and presenting media.The method 1100 begins at 1110 where the method 1100 annotates a set ofmedia items with metadata to facilitate metadata based retrieval of oneor more of the set of media items. For example, scenes that include acertain voice can be annotated with metadata that indicates that thereis an identified voice available and the identity of that voice. At1120, the method 1100 receives a first query. The first query isemployed to identify one or more media items based on a relationshipbetween a media item and a metadata item and/or value. For example, thefirst query may request scenes in which a certain voice is present.Thus, at 1130, the method 1100 can retrieve a first metadata responsiveto the first query. For example, pointers to metadata blocks thatinclude the desired voice can be retrieved.

At 1140, the method 1100 generates a playlist of media items related byone or more metadata items in the first metadata. For example, while afirst number of scenes may include an identified voice, at 1140, themethod 1100 may select the scenes where the identified voice appears atleast ten percent of the time. Thus, the playlist will contain voiceidentification related metadata items. After the playlist has beengenerated, at 1150, media items listed in the playlist will bedisplayed. A user watching the media items in the playlist can generatea feedback concerning which media item they wish to view next. Thus, at1160, the method 1100 receives a second query related to identifying amedia item by a relationship between the media item and a metadata. Forexample, while viewing a scene in which the desired voice appears, theuser may see an item (e.g., a snowman) that prompts the user to desireto view different videos (e.g., snow covered, holiday theme videos inwhich the desired voice appears). Thus, the user can generate a secondquery to retrieve such videos. The query can cause an examination ofmetadata associated with video scenes and retrieval, at 1170, of asecond metadata responsive to the second query. When the second metadataresponsive to the second query has been retrieved, then at 1180, theplaylist can be updated based, at least in part, on that secondmetadata. While a linear flow is depicted in FIG. 11, it is to beappreciated that the method 1100 may loop.

FIG. 12 illustrates a data structure 1200 employed in a system thatfacilitates non-linear viewing of media items. The data structure 1200has a first field that holds a media item, for example, a video segment1210. While a video segment 1210 is illustrated, it is to be appreciatedthat the media item may be a full length video, a video scene, a stillimage, a combination of scenes and/or images, and the like. Additionallyand/or alternatively, the first field can hold a reference to a memorylocation or locations where such videos, scenes, images and the like arestored. The data structure 1200 also includes a second field that holdsa metadata item related to the media item, for example an annotatingmetadata 1220. This metadata facilitates activities including, but notlimited to, identifying the media item, locating the media item andlocating a related media item.

The data structure 1200 is merely exemplary and it is to be appreciatedthat numerous other structures are contemplated that provide fororganizing and/or storing a plurality of data types conducive tofacilitating the non-linear viewing of related media scenes inconnection with the subject invention. Any such data structure suitablefor employment in connection with the present invention is intended tofall within the scope of the appended claims. Such data structures canbe stored in computer readable media including, but not limited to,memories, disks and carrier waves.

FIG. 13 is a sample screen shot illustrating a user interface 1300 thatfacilitates non-linear viewing of related media scenes. The userinterface 1300 depicts a scene wherein a number of family members areviewed. In the example user interface 1300, the image is displayed on atouch screen. In the depicted simulated screen shot, a user has touchedthe user interface 1300 on the face of the father. The user interface1300 has, therefore, framed the face with buttons that facilitateadapting the scene and/or a playlist in which the scene appears. By wayof illustration, in the sample user interface 1300, a button thatsymbolizes a speaker is presented in the top left hand corner of theframe around the father's face. Such a button can be employed, forexample, to turn on or off the audio associated with a scene. By way offurther illustration, a right facing equilateral triangle is presentedin the lower right hand corner of the frame around the father's face.Such a button can be employed, for example, to skip ahead to the nextscene in a playlist. While the user interface 1300 is depicted on atouch screen, it is to be appreciated that the depicted buttons could be“pressed” by methods including, but not limited to, touching, keyboardcommand, voice input, mouse input, and the like. Furthermore, whileeight buttons are depicted in user interface 1300, it is to beappreciated that a greater and/or lesser number of buttons and/or othergraphical user interface elements can be employed in accordance with thepresent invention.

Thus, in one example of the present invention, a computer system thatfacilitates non-linear viewing of media includes a graphical userinterface that has a display and a selection device. The display may be,for example, an active or passive, intelligent or non-intelligentdevice. The graphical user interface supports a method of providing andselecting from a set of graphic user interface elements on the display.The graphical user interface elements can include, but are not limitedto, buttons, menus, sliders, drop down boxes, frames, halos, radiobuttons, check boxes, and the like. The graphical user interface canretrieve a set of graphic user interface elements where the interfaceelements represent one or more actions action associated withfacilitating the non-linear display of media items. For example, anelement can be associated with skipping ahead or skipping back in aplaylist. The graphical user interface displays the set of interfaceelements on the display and receives an interface element selectionsignal that indicates which of the set of interface elements has beenchosen by a user. In response to the interface element selection signal,the graphical user interface initiates processing to facilitatenon-linear viewing of media.

FIG. 14 illustrates a sample data packet 1400 employed to transferinformation between various computer components associated with thepresent invention. The data packet 1400 includes a header field 1410that includes information such as the length and type of packet. Forexample, the header field 1410 may indicate whether the packet 1400 is apacket type that requires a response from the receiving device. A sourceidentifier 1420 holds data concerning the location from which the datapacket originated (e.g., media store, annotating tool). The data packet1400 also includes a clip identifier 1430 that facilitates identifying aclip. The identifier can be, for example, a 128 bit integer thatuniquely identifies a clip, or, in another example, can be a text string(e.g., file pathname).

The data packet 1400 also includes a metadata key 1440 that facilitatesretrieving metadata associated with the clip identified in the clipidentifier field 1430. For example, while the clip identifier 1430 maybe a primary key accessible in an SQL database, the metadata key 1440may be a secondary key similarly accessible in the SQL database or aseparate primary key in a second database. The data packet 1400 includesa data field 1450 in the packet 1400 that includes various informationthat is intended to be communicated to the receiving computer component.The data packet 1400 ends with a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) field1460 that serves as an error detecting field whereby a receiving devicecan determine if it has properly received a packet 1400. While sixfields are illustrated in data packet 1400, it is to be appreciated thata greater and/or lesser number of fields can be employed in packetsutilized by the present invention.

Another example data packet may be transmitted between a computercomponent implementing an annotating tool and a media store. Such a datapacket (not illustrated) may include, for example, a first field thatstores a clip identifier that identifies a portion of a media. Theidentifier may be, for example, a globally unique identifier thatfacilitates locating the clip regardless of storage location. Theexample data packet can also include a second field that stores ametadata key that identifies an annotating metadata associated with theclip identified by the clip identifier. Again, such metadata key may bea globally unique identifier that facilitates retrieving the metadatafrom various distributed media stores. The data packet can also includea third field that stores data associated with the clip identified bythe clip identifier. Such data may be, for example, the clip, or alonger work from which the clip was derived.

Yet another data packet adapted to be transmitted between a userinterface and a playlist updater to facilitate the non-linear viewing ofa media can include a first field that stores a clip identifier thatidentifies a portion of a media, the clip identifier substantiallysimilar to the clip identifier described in the other data packets. Thedata packet can also include a second field that stores a requested useraction concerning the portion identified by the clip identifier. Forexample, the second field can store commands to add a scene to aplaylist, remove a scene from a playlist and to search for relatedscenes. The data packet can also include a third field that storesmetadata associated with the portion identified by the clip identifier.Such metadata can be employed to retrieve one or more clips according tothe requested user action.

FIG. 15 is a schematic illustration of sub-fields 1500 within the datafield 1450 (FIG. 14). The sub-fields 1500 discussed are merely exemplaryand it is to be appreciated that a greater or lesser number of fieldscould be employed with various types of data germane to facilitatingnon-linear viewing of media in accordance with the present invention.

The sub-fields 1500 include a date field 1510 that can hold informationconcerning the date when a media item was filmed. A time field 1520 canhold information relating to the time when the media item was filmed,and/or, for example, the length, in periods of time, of a media item. Aperson field 1530 can hold information concerning people who arerecognized in the scene. Such recognition may have occurred, by, forexample, voice recognition and/or face recognition. Similarly, an itemfield 1540 can hold information concerning items that are recognized inthe scene. Other fields include, but are not limited to, a mood field1550, a theme field 1560, and a security field 1570. The security field1570 can hold, for example, identifiers associated with users who arepermitted to view the media related to the data packet 1500.

Referring now to FIG. 16, an application programming interface (API)1600 is illustrated providing access to a system 1610 that includes anannotating tool 1612 and a user interface 1614. The API 1600 may beemployed, for example, by programmers 1620 and/or processes 1630 to gainaccess to processing performed by the system 1610. Similarly, the API1600 may be employed to provide data values to the system 1610 and/orretrieve data values from the system 1610. Thus, in one example of thepresent invention, a set of application program interfaces can beembodied on a computer-readable medium. The interfaces can be executedby a computer component to gain access to an annotating tool that isemployed to annotate media in a manner that facilitates non-linearretrieval of the media. Such interfaces can include, but are not limitedto, a first interface that receives media information, a secondinterface that receives annotation information associated with themedia, and a third interface that receives user interface informationassociated with the order in which media will be displayed.

In order to provide additional context for various aspects of thepresent invention, FIG. 17 and the following discussion are intended toprovide a brief, general description of a suitable operating environment1710 in which various aspects of the present invention may beimplemented. FIG. 18 provides an additional and/or alternative operatingenvironment in which the present invention can operate. While theinvention is described in the general context of computer-executableinstructions, such as program modules, executed by one or more computersor other devices, those skilled in the art will recognize that theinvention can also be implemented in combination with other programmodules and/or as a combination of hardware and software. Generally,however, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks orimplement particular data types. The operating environment 1710 is onlyone example of a suitable operating environment and is not intended tosuggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of theinvention. Other well known computer systems, environments, and/orconfigurations that may be suitable for use with the invention includebut are not limited to, personal computers, hand-held or laptop devices,multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, programmableconsumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers,distributed computing environments that include the above systems ordevices, and the like.

With reference to FIG. 17, an exemplary environment 1710 forimplementing various aspects of the invention includes a computer 1712.The computer 1712 includes a processing unit 1714, a system memory 1716,and a system bus 1718. The system bus 1718 couples system componentsincluding, but not limited to, the system memory 1716 to the processingunit 1714. The processing unit 1714 can be any of various availableprocessors. Dual microprocessors and other multiprocessor architecturesalso can be employed as the processing unit 1714.

The system bus 1718 can be any of several types of bus structureincluding the memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus orexternal bus, and/or a local bus using any variety of available busarchitectures including but not limited to 8-bit bus, IndustrialStandard Architecture (ISA), Micro-Channel Architecture (MSA), ExtendedISA (EISA), Intelligent Drive Electronics (IDE), VESA Local Bus (VLB),Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Universal Serial Bus (USB),Advanced Graphics Port (AGP), Personal Computer Memory CardInternational Association bus (PCMCIA), and Small Computer SystemsInterface (SCSI).

The system memory 1716 includes volatile memory 1720 and nonvolatilememory 1722. The basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basicroutines to transfer information between elements within the computer1712, such as during start-up, is stored in nonvolatile memory 1722. Byway of illustration, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory 1722 caninclude read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electricallyprogrammable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable ROM (EEPROM), or flashmemory. Volatile memory 1720 includes random access memory (RAM), whichacts as external cache memory. By way of illustration and notlimitation, RAM is available in many forms such as synchronous RAM(SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rateSDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), anddirect Rambus RAM (DRRAM).

Computer 1712 also includes removable/nonremovable, volatile/nonvolatilecomputer storage media. FIG. 17 illustrates, for example a disk storage1724. Disk storage 1724 includes, but is not limited to, devices like amagnetic disk drive, floppy disk drive, tape drive, Jazz drive, Zipdrive, LS-100 drive, flash memory card, or memory stick. In addition,disk storage 1724 can include storage media separately or in combinationwith other storage media including but not limited to an optical diskdrive such as a compact disk ROM device (CD-ROM), CD recordable drive(CD-R Drive), CD rewritable drive (CD-RW Drive) or a digital versatiledisk ROM drive (DVD-ROM). To facilitate connection of the disk storagedevices 1724 to the system bus 1718, a removable or non-removableinterface is typically used such as interface 1726.

It is to be appreciated that FIG. 17 describes software that acts as anintermediary between users and the basic computer resources described insuitable operating environment 1710. Such software includes an operatingsystem 1728. Operating system 1728, which can be stored on disk storage1724, acts to control and allocate resources of the computer system1712. System applications 1730 take advantage of the management ofresources by operating system 1728 through program modules 1732 andprogram data 1734 stored either in system memory 1716 or on disk storage1724. It is to be appreciated that the present invention can beimplemented with various operating systems or combinations of operatingsystems.

A user enters commands or information into the computer 1712 throughinput device(s) 1736. Input devices 1736 include, but are not limited toa pointing device such as a mouse, trackball, stylus, touch pad,keyboard, microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, TVtuner card, digital camera, digital video camera, web camera, and thelike. These and other input devices connect to the possessing unit 1716through the system bus 1718 via interface port(s) 1738. Interfaceport(s) 1738 include, for example, a serial port, a parallel port, agame port, and a universal serial bus (USB). Output device(s) 1740 usesome of the same type of ports as input device(s) 1736. Thus, forexample, a USB port may be used to provide input to computer 1712, andto output information from computer 1712 to an output device 1740.Output adapter 1742 is provided to illustrate that there are some outputdevices 1740 like monitors, speakers, and printers among other outputdevices 1740 that require special adapters. The output adapters 1742include, by way of illustration and not limitation, video and soundcards that provide a means of connection between the output device 1740and the system bus 1718. It should be noted that other devices and/orsystems of devices provide both input and output capabilities such asremote computer(s) 1744.

Computer 1712 can operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computer1744. The remote computer 1744 can be a personal computer, a server, arouter, a network PC, a workstation, a microprocessor based appliance, apeer device or other common network node and the like, and typicallyincludes many or all of the elements described relative to computer1712. For purposes of brevity, only a memory storage device 1746 isillustrated with remote computer 1744. Remote computer 1744 is logicallyconnected to computer 1712 through a network interface 1748 and thenphysically connected via communication connection 1750. Networkinterface 1748 encompasses communication networks such as local-areanetworks (LAN) and wide-area networks (WAN). LAN technologies includeFiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), Copper Distributed DataInterface (CDDI), Ethernet/IEEE 802.3, Token Ring/IEEE 802.5 and thelike. WAN technologies include, but are not limited to, point-to-pointlinks, circuit switching networks like Integrated Services DigitalNetworks (ISDN) and variations thereon, packet switching networks, andDigital Subscriber Lines (DSL).

Communication connection(s) 1750 refers to the hardware/softwareemployed to connect the network interface 1748 to the bus 1718. Whilecommunication connection 1750 is shown for illustrative clarity insidecomputer 1712, it can also be external to computer 1712. Thehardware/software necessary for connection to the network interface 1748includes, for exemplary purposes only, internal and externaltechnologies such as, modems including regular telephone grade modems,cable modems and DSL modems, ISDN adapters, and Ethernet cards.

FIG. 18 illustrates an additional operating environment 1800 in whichthe present invention may function. The environment 1800 is adistributed environment wherein various computer components and/or datastores of the present invention are distributed between variouslocations. For example, the system 1800 includes an intelligent display1810 that can be located at a first location and a non-intelligentdisplay 1820 that can be located at a second location. While a singleintelligent display 1810 and a single non-intelligent display 1820 aredisplayed, it is to be appreciated that a greater number of suchdisplays can be employed with the present invention and that suchdisplays can be located at distributed locations.

The displays 1810 and 1820 display media items identified in a playlist1830. The playlist 1830 is generated by an annotating and authoringsystem 1840 and refers to media items that are stored in a media store1850. While a single annotating and authoring system 1840 isillustrated, it is to be appreciated that cooperating computercomponents can be employed to implement the annotating and authoringsystem 1840. Thus, the computer components can be distributed betweenvarious processors, processes, threads, and locations. Similarly, whilea single media store 1850 is illustrated, it is to be appreciated that adistributed data storage can be employed with the present invention.Thus, in one example of the present invention, media items identified inthe playlist 1830 can be stored at different locations, in differentformats and retrieved by different methods.

What has been described above includes examples of the presentinvention. It is of course, not possible to describe every conceivablecombination of components or methodologies for purposes of describingthe present invention, but one of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize that many further combinations and permutations of the presentinvention are possible. Accordingly, the present invention is intendedto embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fallwithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, to theextent that the term “includes” is used in either the detaileddescription or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in amanner similar to the term “comprising”, as comprising is interpreted asa transitional word in a claim.

1. A method for non-linear viewing of media, comprising: employing aprocessor to execute computer executable instructions stored on acomputer readable medium to perform the following acts: displaying ascene stored in a playlist that stores at least one scene and metadataassociated with the at least one scene; receiving user feedback relatedto the displayed scene, wherein the user feedback comprises inputreceived from a device that monitors the user's facial expression;analyzing the user feedback based on, at least in part, facialrecognition data associated with the input; displaying a media itemretrieved from a data store based on the analyzed user feedback andmetadata associated with the media item; and utilizing an intelligentcomponent to recognize an emotional reaction of the person based on thereceived feedback; determining whether to update a playlist based on therecognized emotional reaction such that: a) if the feedback, based atleast in part on the recognized emotional reaction, requests findingrelated scenes stored in a media store, finding related scenes byanalyzing metadata associated with the viewed scene and at least onescene stored in a media store, b) if the feedback, based at least inpart on the recognized emotional reaction, requests generating a newplaylist of media scenes, creating the new playlist of media scenesbased on the feedback; and c) if the feedback, based at least in part onthe recognized emotional reaction, requests navigating within aplaylist, moving to any location in the playlist based on the feedback.2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving user feedback comprisesreceiving at least one of a touch input, a typed input, a mouse input,or a voice input.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein reacting to the userfeedback comprises at least one of moving forward in the playlist ormoving backward in the playlist.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinupdating the playlist comprises adding a scene to the playlist orremoving a scene from the playlist.
 5. A method for facilitatingnon-linear viewing of media, comprising: employing a processor toexecute computer executable instructions stored on a computer readablemedium to perform the following acts: receiving feedback related to amedia scene viewed by a person, wherein the feedback comprises inputreceived from at least one device that monitors the person's one or morefacial expressions; utilizing an intelligent component to recognize anemotional reaction of the person based on the received feedback;determining whether to update a playlist based on the recognizedemotional reaction; if the feedback requests finding related scenesstored in a media store, finding related scenes by analyzing metadataassociated with the viewed scene and at least one scene stored in amedia store; if the feedback requests generating a new playlist of mediascenes, creating the new playlist of media scenes based on the feedback;and if the feedback requests navigating within a playlist, moving to anylocation in the playlist based on the feedback.
 6. A system comprising:a processor to execute computer executable instructions stored on acomputer readable medium that when executed by the processor provide: afirst interface that receives media information and displays the mediainformation to a viewer; a second interface that receives annotationinformation associated with the displayed media information; a thirdinterface that receives user interface information, wherein the userinterface information comprises input received from a device thatmonitors the viewer's reaction to viewing the media information; afourth interface that analyzes the received user interface informationbased on, at least in part, image recognition data associated with theuser interface information, to recognize an emotional reaction of theuser; and determining feedback based on, at least in part, therecognized emotional reaction of the user and the annotationinformation; a fifth interface that determines an order in which themedia information is displayed to the viewer based on said feedback; ifthe feedback requests finding related scenes stored in a media store,finding related scenes by analyzing metadata associated with the viewedscene and at least one scene stored in a media store; if the feedbackrequests generating a new playlist of media scenes, creating the newplaylist of media scenes based on the feedback; and if the feedbackrequests navigating within a playlist, moving to any location in theplaylist based on the feedback.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinupdating the playlist further comprises reordering scenes of theplaylist.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein updating the playlistfurther comprises modifying the frequency that scenes in the playlistare displayed.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the media itemcomprises at least one of a scene stored in the playlist, a still image,a video, a video scene, a video segment, audio, or an audio segment. 10.The method of claim 9, wherein the metadata comprises at least one of adate the media item was created, a time the media item was created, aduration of the media item, a videographer associated with the mediaitem, or subject matter of the media item.
 11. The method of claim 1,wherein the user feedback further comprises a request to find scenessimilar to the displayed scene.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein theuser feedback further comprises a request to play a scene related to andlonger than the displayed scene.
 13. The method of claim 1, whereinmetadata associated with the media item comprises at least one of itemidentification information, face identification information, voiceidentification information, mood identification information, or themeidentification information.
 14. The method of claim 5, whereindetermining whether to update the playlist comprises including scenes inthe playlist that are similar to the viewed media scene when therecognized emotional reaction relates to a joyous reaction.
 15. Themethod of claim 5, wherein determining whether to update the playlistcomprises removing scenes from the playlist that are similar to theviewed media scene when the recognized emotional reaction does notrelate to a joyous reaction.
 16. The method of claim 5, wherein thefeedback comprises a touch input associated with the person, a typedinput associated with the person, a mouse input associated with theperson, or a voice input associated with the person.
 17. The system ofclaim 6, wherein the media information comprises at least one of a scenestored in a playlist, a still image, a video, a video scene, a videosegment, audio, or an audio segment.
 18. The system of claim 6, whereinthe annotation information comprises at least one of item identificationinformation, face identification information, voice identificationinformation, mood identification information, or theme identificationinformation.
 19. The system of claim 6, wherein the interfaceinformation relates to the viewer's facial expression.
 20. The method ofclaim 5, wherein the metadata comprises facial recognition dataincluding at least one of a face identification number, a distancebetween eyes, or a distance between facial reference points.